NEW YORK — There's a revealing moment in HBO Sports' absorbing new documentary "Being Serena" in which the tennis star is cooing over her newborn daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. Her then-fiancee, Alexis Ohanian, jokes about their baby winning Wimbledon in 20 years. Not if I'm still on tour, says Serena Williams, only half-jokingly.
The five-part series premiering Wednesday night (10-10:30 p.m. ET) gives viewers amazing access into Williams' private life as a bride, wife and mother. We're there as she gives birth via Cesarean section — and barely survives postpartum complications. We see her vulnerable, even scared. But we never forget we're watching one of the world's fiercest competitors.
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Remember, this is the tennis icon who won her 23rd Grand Slam singles title while eight weeks pregnant. This is the battle-tested athlete preparing to continue her Grand Slams pursuit this spring. No matter how vulnerable she appears at her weakest moments, Serena is still Serena — pure steel.
As her now-husband notes, "Serena just has another gear she can shift into." Maria Sharapova and other rivals over the past 20 years can relate.
The most surprising thing about the documentary is that it happened at all.
Both the 36-year old Serena and older sister Venus, 37, are famously guarded after dealing with racism and body-shaming during their careers, but Serena explained she wanted to show a different, softer face than the "fierce," fist-pumping competitor we see on the court.
The HBO brand's reputation for sports documentaries "magically" opened the door, network executives said before a preview screening here at Time Warner Center. Once Williams decided to share her personal life with HBO filmmakers, she didn't hold back.
"I chose now to share these moments because I was going through something different in my life," Williams said in an HBO interview. "I always wanted to get it down in a documentary so I could always say to my daughter, 'Olympia, look at all these moments.' It's professionally shot. I had my own selfish reasons."
If asking HBO to be your family videographer sounds pretty cool, well, that's one of the perks of "Being Serena," but Williams' life isn't all roses, as the documentary indicates.
We follow Williams through the harrowing birth of her daughter on Sept. 1 and the life-threatening complications that followed.
Having trouble breathing during the birth of her child, she warns hospital employees she may be suffering a pulmonary embolism. As an athlete, Williams knows her body. Her history of blood clots, which nearly killed her in 2011, make her extra wary.
It turns out she's right and the medical professionals are wrong. A CT scan reveals blood clots in her legs. By the time she returns home from a five-day stay in the hospital, Williams can barely walk to the front door, but she gamely carries her newborn daughter in a bassinet with one hand.
"I was terrified. It was a whole new kind of fear," Williams says in the doc. "Tennis? I don't think it ever felt so far away, and I don't think my life ever felt so unsure."
Williams perseveres, returning to the gym and the practice court only seven weeks after giving birth. She marries Ohanian, an internet entrepreneur who co-founded Reddit, in New Orleans on Nov. 16. She will chase yet another Grand Slam title at the French Open later this month.
The documentary also marks an impressive return to form by HBO, which collaborated with IMG's Original Content Group for the third time. HBO, the former leader in sports documentaries, has now produced two outstanding films in a row: "Being Serena" and "Andre the Giant" with Bill Simmons' Ringer.
It looks as though HBO is laying down a marker to ESPN Films that it is not ready to give up its sports documentary crown. With the backing of IMG's Mark Shapiro, the former ESPN executive, this competition bears close watching again.
"Being Serena" is marvelous filmmaking. After watching this documentary, you'll have a whole new appreciation for Williams as an athlete and a person.